Grazing Fire

Welcome
to the latest newsletter! Since the last newsletter there's been some
pretty major news out on the Matrix front: Slitherine Ltd and Matrix Games
have merged to create the world's largest wargaming specialist publisher!
Of course, the primary focus for this new entity will remain the same
as it was for each company individually: providing quality war and strategy
game with top-level customer service and great product support. There
are plenty of exciting opportunities for both companies and for their
customers that will materialize out of this merge so stay tuned to see
what we have in store!

Since the newsletter has traditionally been a Matrix Games gig, let's
say a few words about Slitherine: Slitherine is a privately funded company
operating in the entertainment business. Its mission is to deliver history
based products to the widest possible audience. Slitherine’s main
focus is publishing and developing of videogames, however Slitherine is
also involved with book publishing, internet gaming, board games and has
provided a range of consultancy services to TV and other media companies.
Slitherine is at the forefront of delivering entertainment through history
and history through entertainment. Founded by wargaming world champions
JD and Iain McNeil, the company works with key partners such as HISTORY™,
MILITARY HISTORY™, Horrible Histories™, Osprey, Scholastic,
Casemate Publishing, Spike TV, Showtime and many others to deliver the
best blend of historical accuracy in an exciting and entertaining way.

Slitherine's Group Chairman JD McNeil said: “We are excited and
thrilled about the deal with Matrix Games. We both operate in a niche
market and we see many opportunities to further grow and expand the business
by joining forces. By combining our resources and experience we are confident
that we can lead this market to the next level”.

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games said: “Matrix
has always been at the cutting edge for innovation. We started over 10
years ago and were the first to move into the digital download business.
With a very focused emphasis on customer service we have becoming market
leaders in our field, where gameplay is all important. By merging with
Slitherine, we can pursue our common goals to grow the business and this
market sector as a whole.”

Additionally, The Wargamer ran an in-depth interview discussing further
details regarding the merger so be sure to check that out for more information.

The Historical Short section is designed to provide a brief snapshot
of an interesting historical event or trivia that is a little off the
beaten path of regular historical discourse.

The Worlds Worst Warships - Part 3

U.S.S. Maine (1889; American Navy)

Oh, but she was a beautiful ship! Her gleaming white paint scheme, trimmed
with gold and bronze (and kept sparkling, during those days of filthy
black coal smoke) only by strenuous daily maintenance on the part of her
proud and zealous crew). She seemed the gleaming embodiment of the young,
virile America’s somewhat raucous appearance on the international
scene as a rising power to be reckoned with. She was, everyone agreed,
the perfect vessel to use when ”showing the flag” was considered
a vital act of “Big Stick” diplomacy, and her first major
assignment was to sail imperiously into Havana Harbor for the announced
purpose of “Protecting American interests” in strife-torn
Cuba, where rag-tag guerilla bands were fighting a cruel war of liberation
against their heavy-handed and often brutal Spanish oppressors. Exactly
what “American interests” could be “protected”
by a single warship anchored in Havana Harbor seems rather murky as mission
objectives go, but the implicit threat to the Spanish lay in her formidable
armament of 4 x 10-inch guns and 6 x 6-inch, which were perfectly capable
of leveling any municipal building, utility plant, or barracks within
the Cuban capital.

She also boasted such modern innovations as searchlights, and a telegraphic
fire-control system coordinated by skilled officers stationed in the armored
“fighting top”, who were able to spot the fall of shot through
powerful glasses, and send corrections instantly to the gunnery crews
below. In practice, the mixture of heavy and medium caliber weapons, all
firing salvos at once, made the fire-control process less smooth and efficient
as it might have been, had the 10-inch shells contained a distinctive
dye-marker component so their water spouts could readily be distinguished
from the more numerous and almost as large plumes thrown up by the six-inchers
– but no one had thought of that little trick yet. Gunnery officers
were still working on this problem, and undoubtedly they would have come
up with some sort of workable solution before the Maine went forth to
engage capital ships of the Spanish fleet, should that become necessary.

USS Maine entering Havana Harbor on 25 January 1898, where the ship would explode three weeks later

Alas for American patriotic glory, the Maine never fired a shot in anger.
Shortly after she anchored in Havana Harbor, a mysterious nocturnal explosion
ripped her in half and she sank with heavy loss of life. “Spanish
Sabotage!” screamed the 36-point-type headlines in the Hearst newspapers,
and prompt, effusive Spanish protestations of innocence were arrogantly
dismissed as lies. “Remember the Maine!” became the rallying
cry that roused the American public to a pitch of war fever.

Here was something unique in naval history: a capital warship that had
never fired a shot in anger, yet which managed to demolish and scuttle
herself, and by doing so ignite a needless, costly war between two large
countries which otherwise had no earthly reason to start shooting at each
other. America’s swift, cheap, one-sided, almost bloodless victory
(if you’re talking about Yanqui blood, that is) produced results
that would have far-reaching global consequences (indeed, some of the
ripple-effects have not entirely subsided even today, in 2009).

The Maine went down in comparatively shallow water (the “fighting
top” and the U.S. flag still protruded proudly above the shattered
hull, making a poignant image that the newspapers turned into a patriotic
icon). Extensive underwater investigation, however, reveals not the slightest
trace of “Spanish Sabotage”. Instead, like half-a-dozen-major
warships from other countries during this same general time-period, the
Maine apparently self-destructed from a spontaneous cordite explosion,
followed by a chain-reaction detonation of all her magazines. The most
probable cause was an undetected fire started by coal-dust or cinders
igniting from one of the coal bunkers. In short, the “Spanish Tyrants”
had nothing to do with the ship’s destruction – indeed, the
very LAST thing the weak and over-extended Spanish monarchy wanted at
that time was to get embroiled in a two-ocean war with the bellicose,
arrogantly confident United States and its powerful new state-of-the-art
fleet.

In those days, the full potential dangers of sloppy magazine security
and the necessity for strong compartmentalization of explosive-propellant
charge bags and fused ammunition rounds was but indifferently realized;
a succession of spontaneous cordite ignition incidents, resulting in the
loss of not only the Maine, but also such major fleet units as HMS Vanguard,
HMS Bulwark, and IJN Kawachi, drove home the point, and all the significant
navies were compelled to study the problem and dramatically revise their
safety procedures, as well as the design, positioning, and internal armoring
of their magazines. The more prescient navies also updated their damage
control practices do deal with this potentially catastrophic possibility.

Historical Perspective

The Historical Perspective section is intended to give readers the
"history behind the game." To celebrate the long-awaited release of Command
Ops: Battles from the Bulge, we examine the political motivations behind
Germany's last-ditch effort in the Ardennes forest.

Cutting the Diamond: the Political Dimension of Adolf Hitler’s
Ardennes Counterattack

William R. Trotter

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“The Battle of the Bulge” was surely the inevitable historical
shorthand name for what should more properly be called “The Ardennes
Counteroffensive”. The origin of the popularized name was surely
obvious to anyone who looked at a situation map at any point after, say,
noon on December 22, 1944. By that time, the narrow spikes of the initial
panzer penetrations had combined into a trademark pseudopod-like salient
that would expand but not change its basic shape until December 26. That
was the date when Patton’s Third Army (after brilliantly executing
a massive pivot down near Martelange, Luxembourg, in a virtuosic performance
during which Patton and his staff managed to re-direct, in only 46 hours,
the axis-of-advance for an entire mechanized army, whose units carried
out that dangerous and complicated maneuver with the precision, alacrity,
and even the grace of a world-class ballet troupe – and then drove
north, like the Hounds of Hell, in an epic 250-mile forced march aimed
at breaking the siege of Bastogne) started squashing the German perimeter
into something that looked more like a thick, writhing tentacle.

But during the crisis period, a “bulge” it resembled and
“The Bulge” it became to the GIs who lived through that most
bitter of winters. The war correspondents, of course, glommed on to that
name for their own obvious reasons: American newspaper readers could SEE
“The Bulge” looming, threatening, expanding, and then slowly
being squeezed out of existence as the Germans ran out of steam (and gasoline).
Headlines promising fresh news about “The Bulge” were what
many eyes locked on to first when American subscribers opened their morning
papers.

It was a good, punchy, iambic battle-name, and it practically vibrated
with drama when it was set in 24-point type. It alerted readers instantly
as to what the descending copy was “about”, whereas even those
who knew the location of “The Ardennes Forest” were not quite
sure whether or not to show off their erudition by pronouncing that pesky
final “s”. Did the Belgians follow French conventions in such
matters, or did they have some quirky indigenously “Belgian”
way of doing it? (And just who the hell were the “Walloons”,
anyway? Some quaintly old-fashioned religious sect in rural Pennsylvania?)

So “The Battle of the Bulge” it became, and “The Battle
of the Bulge” it has remained, at least in the popular imaginations
of the nations whose soldiers fought and died within the frigid white
cauldron that became so familiar from the newspapers’ maps.

Game Spotlight: Close Combat - Last Stand Arnhem Screenshot
Gallery

Close Combat - Last Stand Arnhem is the latest upcoming
Close Combat remake from Strategy 3 Tactics. Based on the original Close
Combat title depicting Operation Market Garden, Close Combat: A Bridge
Too Far, the remake is slated for release some time this summer. Below
are a selection of screenshots detailing some of the features packed into
Last Stand Arnhem.

A Parting
Shot

If the Latest News section didn't already convey this point, a LOT has
happened since the last newsletter. Although this didn't make the news
list, we had to purchase a new digital trophy case because we bagged a
bunch of new awards! Distant
Worlds took home a Gamer's Hall Gold Award, in addition to sporting
a substantial
and growing list of positive reviews (not to mention a
perfect 8/8 score on Out of Eight Reviews). Across
the Dnepr: Second Edition also banked a 90% on Gamer's Hall and took
home a Gold Award. Congratulations to both Code Force and SSG for their
fine efforts!

There are plenty of solid games slated for release this summer. While
we don't like to give out specific dates before we're absolutely sure
we can meet them, suffice to say that there's plenty reason to check back
periodically and see what we have in store (pun intended!).

And as always, anyone who would like to drop us a line and give us some
feedback, complaints, etc., please don't hesitate to do so through our
general
feedback contact form.

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